Tracking the talent, after the diaspora.

Weblogs

July 05, 2006

There has been a lot made of the value of user generated content (or, as I like to call it,
"people writing") lately. The author of this Wall St. Journal article,
for example, laments the overshadowing of talented creative people by
the YouTube-enabled masses. And only recently, the mob mentality of the
blogosphere turned its wrath
on Tim O'Reilly for taking a vacation while an over-protective partner
tried to cease-and-desist the good guys. But I've been playing with
Vox, and while not perfect, it's given me some optimism that there is
room for all of us to contribute.

When I first started this blog a few years ago, it was was a fair
amount of trepidation. Before that, everything I'd written for others
to read had been professional. I studied journalism in school, paid
tuition as a stringer, and moved into editing a weekly newspaper for a
few years. Later, at Wired, I took on a column at Webmonkey that -
while relatively informal in tone - still went through an editorial
process.

So blogging was a departure. It was the first time I published under
my own masthead, without an organization supporting me, and without
payment (at least directly). I approached it with the same editorial
integrity and effort, but relaxed a bit and got into a grove. I even
allowed myself to post personal experiences and indulge the occasional obsession.
Still, I've always considered blogging an adjunct to my career. Spread
your ideas far and wide and they'll pay dividends for a long, long time.

A lot of my recent work has been focused on this democratization of
publishing. I've always felt that making powerful tools accessible to
anyone is the most effective way to empower any voice - not just those
fortunate to own a press or broadcasting tower. Intuitive social media
applications running on a universally accessible network really are
making a difference.

The irony is that I never really let myself fully exploit those
lower barriers to entry. My posting here is considered and deliberate;
I really only want to add to a conversation if I have something
worthwhile to contribute. So as I started playing around with Vox, I
realized the constraint of my "professional" blog may have weighed to
heavily in the past.

I described this new tool recently to a friend as "a social
networking app without all the poisonous popularity contest stuff."
SixApart has done a really good job at keeping the connections
meaningful, and I'm finding myself increasingly checking in on what my
little network is up to. And I'm writing for them - a little - and kinda liking it.

It took my friend Mike over at Mule Design to point out the obvious: blogging is punk rock. Anyone
can do it. And should. Regardless of AdSense clicks, reputation
management, or audience size. It's about participation, not scale. If
your audience is 20 people, but you connect with 100 percent of them
... well, I'd say that's pretty successful.

I don't know if Vox is the thing that will turn the next 10 million people into bloggers, but I certainly like the direction.

June 30, 2006

This collection of links points to the online diaries of former
Wired employees. Everyone on the list worked for Wired Magazine or
HotWired at some point, most likely from 1995-2000. It's a window into
the thoughts of some of the smartest, most creative, passionate minds
of our generation.

This collection of links points to the online diaries of former Wired employees. Everyone on the list worked for Wired Magazine or HotWired at some point, most likely from 1995-2000. It's a window into the thoughts of some of the smartest, most creative, passionate minds of our generation.